Pick Up The Meaning Of Birds Produced By Jaye Robin Brown Conveyed In PDF
Jessica has always struggled with anger issues, but come sophomore year that all changes when Vivi crashes into her life.
As their relationship blossoms, Vivi not only helps Jess deal with her pain, she also encourages her to embrace her talent as an artist.
And for the first time, it feels like the future is filled with possibilities, After In the midst of senior year, Jesss perfect world is erased when Vivi suddenly passes away, Reeling from the devastating loss, Jess pushes everyone away, and throws out her plans to go to art school, Because art is Vivi and Vivi is gone forever,
Desperate for an escape, Jess gets consumed in her workstudy program, letting all of her dreams die, Until she makes an unexpected new friend who shows her a new way to channel her anger, passion, and creativity.
Although Jess may never draw again, if she can find a way to heal and room in her heart, she just might be able to forge a new path for herself without Vivi.
this cover is the gayest thing i've ever seen in my life, it even perfectly represents the fashion style ofof the sapphics I know Including Myself I have put off writing a review for this book because of two reasons.
One, it was a hard book to read, being that it deals with losing somebody and dealing with the grief that comes with the loss.
I have lost a family member a few years ago and even though the main character lost her significant other, I could relate to her pain.
Reason number two is that I was in a melancholic mood right after I finished the book and that was not in tune with the hope and positive message that the book closes off with.
I did know that I should write the review when some time has passed so I could see the big picture.
I liked this book, It isn't a perfect book but if you connect with the characters or the overall feelings in this book, you will like it a lot.
I recommend reading this book but prepare for a rollercoaster of feelings,
Not an easy read, RTC, Okay I was really excited for this book when I first heard about it but unfortunately I was very disappointed.
At first the story was interesting and I saw a lot of myself in Jess as a character but then Jess started to make some biphobic comments.
When Vivi suggested that she could have been interested in guys had she had not been dating Jess, Jess got irritated at her which really fucking irritated me.
Bi/pan people exist yall, My other main problem with this is that Jess repeatedly said that because she was a lesbian, being with a guy isnt cheating.
Uhhhh what, yes it fucking is cheating, There was also some aphobic things in here too cuz Jess would keep teasing her friend about not being interested in sex or relationships even when she told her multiple times to stop.
Jess is not a likeable character at all and none of these things are really challenged so I cant give this book more thatstars.
this book is gay culture, and so am i, thats it. thanks for coming to my ted talk, ”Stepping forward doesnt mean I let her go, It means I take her with me, ”
This is the type of story that will stick with you for many moons after youve finished reading the last of its beautifully crafted words.
The Meaning of Birds is a story about love, loss, grief, and emotions, Lots and lots of emotions,
Going on this journey with Jess was a journey that I wont be able to forget for quite some time.
It was filled with sadness, but even more so it was filled with a lot of hope, That no matter how you deal with grief, you can and will be okay, It wont happen overnight, thats for sure, but it will be a step by step process in which grief will show that in the end, everything will be okay.
This story shows you how to treat grief as an old friend, Acknowledge it, even hug it if you have to, but tuck it away and find the hope you need to be okay.
I highly recommend this if you need something that will make you feel emotions, but also guide you towards knowing that no matter what youve had to deal with, youre here fighting the fight and you can make it through anything.
Jayne Robin Brown believes in you, and so do I, I cried too many times to count, First: THE COVER.
Second: It is about queer love and is sapphic and the world needs more of those,
This book was so hard to read, Not because it was bad, but because it dealt with grief and the aftermath of loss, Jaye Robin Brown writes a really emotional, moving story about dealing with compounded grief which is, like, really hard to deal with.
I related to Jess so much, honestly I don't struggle with anger management, and I've never lost a girlfriend or close friend.
But I can understand her reactions and lashing out and isolating herself because I've been in such a similar place before.
The Meaning of Birds doesn't skimp on how
Jess struggles with everything after losing Vivi, and I could sympathize entirely with how hard it is to readjust to normal life and how Jess feels like she shouldn't be happy without Vivi.
A lot of the side characters frustrated me, though it felt like they were pressuring Jess to just "move on" from Vivi's death, Levi especially.
I really adored Jess and Vivi's relationship, though they were incredibly cute, and I felt Jess's love for Vivi and how painful it was for her to lose Vivi.
Usually I'm not fond of books that constantly go between the past and the present, but I think it worked really well for this book.
It showed Jess's life with Vivi and how happy they both were, and contrasted it to after Vivi and Jess learning to find her way without Vivi.
Here, I feel like the flashbacks added more of an emotional punch to the book than if it had just been divided into two sections.
One thing I liked is that The Meaning of Birds showed compounded grief, which is when a person experiences loss without really recovering from previous loss, and it isn't something that you see in YA too often.
Jess's father had passed several years before Vivi, and her feelings about both get tangled up, I definitely think there are teens out there who might find this book helpful in knowing they're not alone, Losing one person can dredge up old feelings, and I don't think that's talked about enough, in YA or anywhere.
The book doesn't prescribe some deeper meaning to death, Sometimes people die for no reason at all, seemingly out of the blue, and there's no pretending otherwise in this book.
Another part that I felt was really important was how art was talked about as something that was both painful yet a way to cope.
Jess is an artist, but after Vivi's death, art is too painful for her to do, so she turns to blacksmithing instead as another art form, which was really neat.
I also loved Greer and Eliza they were probably my favourite side characters, We love adorable supportive lesbians, But Jess's blooming interest in blacksmithing shows that it's possible to find new, healthy things you enjoy after a loss.
I really understood Jess's feelings around art after Vivi died, and it was good to see her accept that it's okay to grow and change.
There were a few things I felt were a tad questionable that took away from my experience of reading it.
A couple offhand comments about asexuality, bi/pansexuality, and trans women that rubbed me the wrong way, for example, These comments are not directly a/bi/transphobic, but it struck me as a bit iffy, especially because some of Jess's views were never really addressed or challenged, and they were casual comments that didn't add much to the story altogether.
Yes, this is a tragic book about a young lesbian losing her girlfriend, but it shows her learning to cope with it, even if there's no "getting over" it.
I think a lot of teens dealing with loss of all types could use this book, However, anyone who reads this should definitely have some tissues nearby, becauseas you'd expectit is horribly sad,
content warnings: death of a parent, death of a loved one, grief
Thanks to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
sitelinkBLOG sitelinkTWITTER sitelinkINSTAGRAM,"Oh god. Stork rhymes with dork. Which I am. Because theres no way you wanted all that trivia, Sorry, Im ridiculously into birds, Its a sickness. ”
me before reading: you betcha Im ready for some soft sapphic goodness!!
me after reading: oh my god my emotions holy shit this book was not as fluffy as expected where are the fucking tissues
I really loved this book! It was beautifully drawn look at grief, filled with a great cast.
Greer and Eliza an older lesbian couple who come in partway through the book were my absolute favourites, I especially liked the feature of blacksmithing, because I love when alternate art forms are utilised in books,
The book follows two narratives: “before” and “after”, checking the chapter headings is crucial as you are switched back and forth a bit, Jess and Vivi had a really lovely, and what I thought very realistic, relationship,
The only bit I didnt like was the treatment of the best friend at points shes aromantic and I felt sometimes she was.
. . teased a little for not being into romance Theres a bit where shes going out with a guy and some characters were like “so a date” and she insisted it “wasnt a date”, and the other characters were like “its so a date” but no seriously if she says its not a date, its not a date end of.
And people can think theyre being funny and its a joke but trust me, from personal experience it doesnt always feel that way.
Definitely worth a read if youre a fan of the authors prior work, and are looking for a fufilling contemporary with a bit of emotional depth.
gt
I received a proof copy in exchange for an honest review sitelinkVIDEO REVIEW
The Meaning of Birds is a really beautiful, atmospheric Contemporary about first love, grief and how to continue life after losing the person you thought you'd be with forever.
“Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe the point is not to stop doing the things that remind me of Vivi, but to find a way to ensure she lives through me, even if the future we painted together has been permanently gessoed over.
”
I loved the way the story was structured, We get the story of how Jess and Vivi fall in love, alternating with the chapters after Vivi's death.
I really loved that the story was structured like that because it gave us a chance to really experience the development of the relationship between Jess and Vivi, seeing them fall in love and their everyday life, while also fulling diving into the grief that Jess experiences.
And I thought it was very nice that the book chronicles basically their whole relationship to the point when Vivi dies.
It almost felt like we were reflectiong and processing all of this along with Jess,
When I finished this book, I immediately thought that this has got to be inspired by a recent experience the author went through, which got confirmed in the author's note.
And you could really feel that, The way Brown wrote about grief, living with it, trying to forget it, wallowing in it, all those different stages you go through were brilliantly written and really made you feel for the character.
I love stories about people grieving and trying to redefine their relationship with something that they loved and that connected them to the person they're grieving.
Jess is struggling with drawing because Vivi was the person to really motivate her to take art more seriously and even pursue it professionally.
The development of this aspect was really lovely, as it showed the reality of it being so hard to still enjoy that thing while also showing that there are ways to rediscover your love for it and eventually even use it to help you deal with the grief.
“Part of me wants to tell him the truth, that drawing, creating, is Vivi, is me, is life, is death, is everything all rolled away like a rock over a crevice.
I'm not ready to let her go yet, And if I start to find a way to live, to work on the work of moving on, she might truly disappear.
”
We have a diverse cast of characters that I really loved, There's several people of colour and queer characters, one sidecharacter is aspec but doesn't wanna use labels, The queer aspect is ownvoices,
There are so many different kinds of characters that we get to know during this story and all of them really add something important to Jess's storyline.
I especially loved the two gay women that Jess ends up working with, Having this gay married couple be such an important part of the storyline gave me all kinds of feels,
Jess as a main character is amazing and so, so flawed, She has anger issues and was in therapy for it but after Vivi's death this really flares up again.
So we see her cope with her grief in some not so healthy ways, also including alcohol and weed, and just some other impulsive actions but I loved this aspect.
It was so realistic, valid and relatable,
“As I start grinding the ivory paint off the metal, I feel a few of my own layers shed away.
Stepping forward doesn't mean I let her go, It means I take her with me, Every piece I create can contain some piece of the Vivi I knew and loved, ”
Overall I'd highly recommend this book, I know for many it is hard to read about queer grief and pain but I thought it was handled very well! If you like sad contemporaries that still leave you with a good message, this is the book for you.
Trigger and content warnings for homophobia, grief, loss of a loved one, suicidal thoughts, sexual assault, transphobia.
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I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!.